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Winter not done yet?

11 years ago

A certain narcissistic weatherman (who will remain unnamed) that my wife follows on Facebook says that there is a good chance of a cold blast around the 21st. Anyone else seeing anything like this for the long range forecast?

I'm still playing catch up with onions, potatoes and row tunnels since I was out of town all weekend.

Comments (20)

  • 11 years ago

    I also follow him, among many others, and whether you like him or not, he's pretty good. Way better than watching the local TV guys. But then again, anything is better than them.


  • 11 years ago

    I dont trust any of them. i washed my truck Sunday because they said only 20% chance of rain for monday and wouldnt ya know. It rained all day Monday. im going to start sending them a bill every time they screw up the forecast. LOL

  • 11 years ago

    All indications from most long-range weather models is for below-normal temperatures, starting about March 21. So Mr. AT is probably correct. I'm not so sure I'd classify it as a "cold blast", but at least parts of Oklahoma will likely see freezing overnight lows. This is not unusual for this time of year. Models are less in agreement for what happens by the end of the month and into April. There is a trend in the models toward below-normal temperatures continuing into mid-April. We shall see.


  • 11 years ago

    So the big question now is will these warm temps be enough to initiate budbreak before we get a few overnight freezes at the end of the month. Not for pecans I don't think, but maybe blueberries.

  • 11 years ago

    Ty! Can't believe I can read it, now. But I'm seeing that chance of overnight lows. For my area, that's about it and I'm just looking at 7 days out. I think even I know we're gonna freeze somewhere before May. That wishful thinking as a gardener is formidable, innit?


  • 11 years ago

    I always expect some "late" cold weather until Easter has come and gone. One year, that "Easter Freeze" lasted three weeks, but my garden survived under hastily-constructed low tunnels.

    That year is the reason I have real low tunnel hoops and frost blanket type row covers now----I never want to have to spend two straight days building hastily-thrown-together low tunnels (some were 8' tall to cover the tomato cages) that have to remain over the plants for 3 straight weeks due to a persistent late cold spell that brought a little sleet and snow and lots of cold rain. Those ones I threw together in a hurry were a pathetic-looking hodgepodge of 4 mm and 6mm plastic, tarps, sheets, blankets, PVC pipe, cedar tree branches, etc.....just anything and everything I could use to cover up an entire garden that was growing well and had lots of plants that were getting big. It was a horrible experience and such a struggle to save the garden but it taught me to be more weather-aware and to be prepared for the weather to turn back cold even after the plants have been in the ground a good while and we are far beyond our average last frost date.

    I never roll up the row cover and put it away for good until after the first week of May.

  • 11 years ago

    Interesting that I didn't have to mention his name, yet some people knew who I was talking about. Let's hope they're all wrong and the weather stays nice.

  • 11 years ago

    I even knew who he was (because Lisa has mentioned his forecasts a few times) and I'm from the wrong end of the state. I likely never ever would have heard of him without this forum.

    The weather rarely gets nice this early and then stays nice throughout the rest of the spring without the cold weather coming back to get us all, but it did in 2012. So, we know it is possible. I think my last temperature of 32 or below that year was around March 11th or 12th.

  • 11 years ago

    There's another "no longer employed by the media" OKC meteorologist on FB. I don't follow him, but a number of my friends do. I think he used to work for the Fox channel.


  • 11 years ago

    He was a really good one. I think he decided to leave the profession or at least not be in a position in front of the public.

  • 11 years ago

    Uhhm I don't know how you can say "not be in a position in front of the public". He is always talking about himself on facebook. The Lost Ogle makes fun of him on a regular basis just from what he posts on there.

    Anyways, I'm not seeing the below average temps in the 6 to 10 day outlook as of 3/14.

    http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/610day/

  • 11 years ago

    I was referring to Slater, who I thought might have been the subject of Lisa's post. He was the one I trusted most here in Tulsa to help me with my agricultural decisions. He has been in OKC for a while, now not on TV anymore. I have followed him on facebook for the last year or so.


    The 6-10 and 8-14 day forecasts have backed off the cold temps quite a bit in the last 48 hours. I'm thinking I will see a March budbreak on a few trees now.

  • 11 years ago

    Yes, Slater. I couldn't think of his name. OSU Engineer, I follow AT on FB and I knew immediately who you were referring to! I have some friends who follow Slater. He used to be on an OKC channel but got let go sometime in the last year.

  • 11 years ago

    Models have really backed off on the cold air scheduled to come in 5-6 days. Glad I was wrong. :) It might be a couple of degrees below normal, but nothing too extreme. I wonder if Mr. AT made a big post on Facebook about how he was wrong. I digress. Anyway.....there's a hint at some cold-ish air around the 24th or so and maybe more later that week. The models are really all over the place in the extended, so it's difficult to pinpoint anything right now. For what it's worth, that cold air would have some freezing temps, at least in the Tulsa area. Tulsa's average last freeze is March 29, so that's pretty normal. This time of year, the models typically struggle with the transition from Winter to Spring, so big changes to forecasts out 5-7 days are likely.

    On another note, it does look like we could have a more active severe weather season this year. That's a bummer!


  • 11 years ago

    Lee, I was joyful, to say the least, when I noticed a couple of days ago that the models were backing off on the cold weather predictions. How joyful was I? I promptly moved all my flats of seedlings out of the house and into the greenhouse. Then, I immediately sowed more seeds in more flats and filled up the light shelf again.

    If the weather turns cold again, I'm not carrying 15 flats of plants back indoors. I'll just put a space heater in the greenhouse and keep them warm through any sort of late cold spell, should one develop. I wish it was that easy to get the garden itself through a late cold spell.

    The prospect of a more active severe weather season isn't good, but let's face it----we live in the land of extremes here, so we're either having little rainfall and lots of drought issues, or we're having lots of rainfall accompanied by periods of severe weather. Or, half the state is in drought and the other half is flooding and drowning. Weather here is never dull but it keeps life, and gardening, interesting.

    Dawn


  • 11 years ago

    ok well now i have to know who ya'll are talking about. LOL

  • 11 years ago
  • 11 years ago

    If y'all are watching the weather, some models show a return to colder temperatures around 8-10 days out, though it seems like it won't affect us as much as it will affect the eastern third of the US. I'm watching that weather development very closely because my ground temperatures are warm enough for tomato plants. I just need for the air temps and long-range forecast to be favorable as well.